Boy beaten to death for meeting a girl alone

Katra December 13: A youth was thrashed to his death and his friend was injured to within an inch of his life by locals in Bhagta village of Katra in Reasi district on Saturday night.

The locals took up the job of moral policing because the two boys had allegedly gone to meet a girl who was alone in her house. When the relatives along with locals came to know about the boys’ visit, they attacked the boys first by dragging them outside and then beating them up with sticks.

Sources in the police have told that Rahul Kumar who was a resident of Ward No. 17, Amwada road, Udhampur, died due to his injuries while his friend Abhishek Kapoor, a resident of the same area as Rahul was critically injured in the incident.

Rahul’s friend, Abhishek, was later brought to Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu, and when the last reports came in, his condition was stable.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Reasi, Surjit Kumar said the police found out about the episode around 2.30 am today and a team was rushed to the spot around 3 am.

“Rahul succumbed to the injuries around 4 am,” said the Reasi SSP.

Surjit Kumar further added that our of four accused, i.e., Pawan Singh, Vikram singh and Kakaram, all residents of Bhagta in Katra, had been arrested while one accused Sukhdev Singh, alias Sonu, had run off.

“A police team has been sent to arrest him,” said the SSP.

Six more persons have been detained for questioning – Gori Singh, Krishan Singh and his two sons, Omkar Singh and Pritam Singh.

The girl in question was also questioned but the police said that she was in a state of shock and was not able to tell anything.

The locals said that Rahul and Abhishek knew that the girl was all by herself in her house and so they had gone to meet her.

“Once the accused came to know about the presence of the two boys in the girl’s house, they dragged both of them outside and starting beating them up till both of them fell unconscious,” said a source. “When the accused realised that the matter has gone out of control, they left the spot,” the source added.